Ray is consulting with Alice Nash Design to furnish a room in his home for his young daughter, who is presently living with Ray’s estranged wife. Helen is immediately smitten with Ray. Despite the strict policy her employer has against personal relationships with clients, Helen can’t help herself from pursuing Ray.

To make matters more interesting, Helen’s former husband, Boyd, still maintains a romantic interest in her. In addition Patricia, a new employee at Alice Nash Design, is interested not only in Ray Richards, but possibly Helen’s son. Patricia is ostensibly helping Lang with his French homework, but her interest may not be limited to helping Lang improve his French grade.

A Comforting Lie is a novel of relationships that are not what they seem and are constantly changing. The title is quite fitting. All the major characters in the story are lying to themselves and the people most important to them in order to initiate or maintain harmonic relationships. The person that Helen presents to Ray as herself is the person she feels will be most attractive to him. Likewise, Ray is less than honest in describing himself and his situation to Helen.

The attraction of A Comforting Lie is the author’s use of language. Descriptive passages abound, especially of houses and their contents. The author makes good use of similes and metaphors. She tries to put the reader in the mind of the main characters -- which, at times, is confusing. Just as one’s own thoughts do not necessarily follow a logical sequence, Helen’s thoughts jump from one topic to another with little seeming connection between them.

The story line in this novel is weak. Helen is attracted to a handsome stranger, and against her better judgment and what her employer would deem acceptable behavior, she makes a play for him. Her handsome stranger has some unseen faults, which come back to haunt her in the end. It is definitely not a mystery story and, while it has elements of romance in it, it is not really a romance novel either. Ever the puzzle lover, I kept waiting for the mystery or puzzle to develop. It never did. Some conflict develops when Helen realizes that Ray is not the person she believes him to be, but not spine tingling suspense.

For those readers more interested in the beauty of language itself, A Comforting Lie should be a pleasure. For readers looking for a good story or those looking for characters who have grown as a result of struggling with their own failings, I’d suggest you try something else.

--Andy Plonka